July 4, 2002

INSIGNIA'S STAR BOLTS TO RIVAL

Real estate superbroker Mary Ann Tighe set off holiday fireworks a day early yesterday, quitting powerhouse Insignia/ESG amidst speculation she's headed for the top job at rival CB Richard Ellis....

SEARS TO EXPAND ITS SOFTER SIDE WITH NEW WARDROBE

Sears is souping up its softer side. The retail behemoth, which spent $1.9 billion in May to acquire direct-mail retailer Lands' End, is tuning up its newest exclusive label for...

VIVENDI'S NEW CHIEF IS GOING TO PIECES

Now that Jean-Rene Fourtou has taken the reins from ousted Chairman Jean-Marie Messier at Vivendi Universal, his first move may be to unload assets of the beleaguered media powerhouse. The...

PM TECH RALLY LIFTS DOW BACK ABOVE 9,000

Investors spent the afternoon grabbing tech stocks to lead a rebound that handed Wall Street its first positive finish in four days. After a triple-digit retreat earlier in the session,...

HOT MANHATTAN BROKERS ARE WOOED, DINED & REELED IN

Manhattan's commercial brokerages are on the brink of an "all-out war" for talent after years of stability, a well-placed source predicts. Yesterday, Insignia/ESG also lost Patrick Murphy, who headed its...

CREDIT SUISSE STRIPS OFF CHAIRMAN'S TITLE

Lucas Muhlemann surrendered the top slot as chairman, but retains his post as chief exec as the big Swiss bank Credit Suisse Group rejiggers the executive suite amid horrendous losses....

STOCK DROPS ANOTHER 12% AS TAKEOVER TALK SWIRLS

Investors dropped Vivendi Universal stock yesterday like a firecracker exploding in their fingers, leaving Hollywood's ears ringing with takeover talk. Shares skidded another 12 percent here to a new low...

A $42M FAREWELL - MESSIER MAY GET $25M LOAN FORGIVEN, PLUS SEVERANCE

While the company he built crumbles, Jean-Marie Messier could walk away with a $42.8 million send-off using Vivendi Universal's cash. Messier is setting up a sweet golden parachute for himself...

STUPID CHAIRMAN TRICKS - PRE-PAID BOSS TIPPED HIS TROOPS TO NEGATIVE STORY

HOW'S this for dense! I won't get into the issue of whether Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. is, or isn't, some sort of Ponzi scheme. A lot of other journalists have...

PATRIOTS PUT BOOT INTO JENNINGS

PETER Jennings has received five boxes of old boots (plus some old sneakers and a prosthetic leg) from irate country music fans. But the boots were in such poor shape...

FORGET THE FIREWORKS 17 THINGS TO DO THAT DON'T GO BOOM!

FIREWORKS? They're so last year. Movies? Shopping? Not exactly exciting. But there's plenty to do today. Hear some music, dance in the streets or cruise New York Harbor. Here are...

FEARS OF ATTACK WON'T RUIN OUR HOLIDAY

ALBANY - Nearly half of New York voters expect a terrorist attack today, but they're not letting that fear ruin their Fourth of July holiday, a new poll yesterday showed....

VETERANS SALUTE LIBERTY MEDALS

As the city celebrates the nation's birthday, veterans who fought to keep America free said The Post's salute to heroic, everyday New Yorkers is a Yankee Doodle Dandy plan. "I...

BLOOMY GETS FEDS' OK TO TAB NEW CHANCELLOR

The federal government has cleared the way for Mayor Bloomberg to name a schools chancellor and most of the new Board of Education, Hizzoner announced yesterday. "We can go ahead...

$CAMMER HALE IN PLEA DEAL

The former head of Hale House pleaded guilty in Manhattan yesterday to stealing from the renowned Harlem children's charity. The sweetheart deal keeps her and her nearly-as-crooked husband out of...

CLASHING TALES OF WEDDING BOMBS

WASHINGTON - Afghan villagers claimed yesterday they were singing and dancing at the home of a family ally of President Hamid Karzai in celebration of his son's wedding when rockets...

RANGEL: CIG TAX PENALIZES POOR

Rep. Charles Rangel charged yesterday that the city's new $1.50 cigarette tax is punishing poor people who are addicted to nicotine. "I really think that it's just so totally unfair...

TRIAL HAS REACHED HEIGHT OF ABSURDITY

ABNER LOUIMA told an investigator from Internal Affairs there was a cop at the 70th Precinct where he was attacked who saved his life. I found out later the cop...

GIRL ESCAPEE NABBED

A 16-year-old heroin addict who escaped police custody after being busted in a jewelry heist was back in jail last night, cops said. Jennifer Marin sparked a police hunt in...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Talk about pig heaven! A Michigan man, concerned about the heat wave, has installed a shower in the pigpen that holds his children's three little pigs. When Isaac Murray of...

GAL JAILED IN 'BOY PLOY' SEDUCE

A Connecticut woman who was accused of dressing up like a boy to seduce a 15-year-old girl last summer was sentenced to a year in prison. Franchesca Romaniello, 29, was...

HAMAS MOB ATTACKS ARAFAT COPS

JERUSALEM - Hamas supporters attacked a Palestinian police station in the Gaza Strip with rocks and pipe bombs yesterday as they demanded the execution of a suspected collaborator being held...

TERROR-WARY NYPD TESTING NEW ASSAULT RIFLE

NYPD Emergency Service Unit cops are testing a high-powered, long-range assault rifle they believe will help them in their war on terrorism, The Post has learned. The department has 20...

VIGILANTE RABBI TARGETS QUEENS

A militant rabbi whose armed vigilante patrols were run out of Brooklyn said yesterday he plans to move them to Queens. Rabbi Yakove Lloyd hopes his patrols - which he...

WITNESSES TO SLAYING TERRIFIED

Witnesses to a Brooklyn murder last year apparently were frightened out of their wits months before one of them was shot dead last weekend, The Post has learned. After the...

HILL HANGS ON TO $$ TAINTED BY SCANDAL

NOW that Martha Stewart is becoming the poster child for corporate greed, it's suddenly all the rage in political circles to give back campaign cash - but so far, Sen....

3RD TIME WILL BE CHARM: SCHWARZ

Twice-convicted ex-cop Charles Schwarz said yesterday he's more confident jurors will acquit him this time around in the Abner Louima attack. "I feel good about it. I really do," he...

EGAN'S NO. 3 MAN IN PRIEST 'REHAB'

A confidant to Edward Cardinal Egan and one of the most powerful clerics in the Archdiocese of New York has been sent to a church-run rehabilitation clinic in Minnesota known...

SPLIT DECISION - RUDY AND DONNA SET TO SETTLE DIVORCE CASE

The year's biggest fireworks show - the Rudy Giuliani-Donna Hanover divorce trial - may be going up in smoke. The couple last night appeared close to a deal to end...

BIG DROP IN SCHOOL CRIME - NEW STATS SHOW FEWER VIOLENT ASSAULTS BUT MORE THEFT

Reports of major crime plummeted in the city's public schools this year - with fewer reported incidents of vicious felony assaults, robberies, rape and sex offenses, the NYPD reports. But...

OZZY WIFE ON MEND AFTER CANCER OPERATION

LOS ANGELES - Sharon Osbourne, wife of British rocker Ozzy Osbourne, underwent surgery yesterday for a treatable form of cancer. Family spokeswoman Lisa Vega would not say what type of...

HOW SWEAT IT IS - MORE SIZZLE TODAY BEFORE MILDER TEMPS ARRIVE

New York, New York, it's a sweltering town - with temperatures up in The Bronx, the Battery and everywhere else, for that matter. Expect more misery today. "I'm just barely...

WOMAN LOSES LEG AS CAR JUMPS CURB

A Staten Island woman lost a leg yesterday when a car driven by an unlicensed teen hit another vehicle, jumped a curb and smashed into her, police said. Patricia Doherty,...

LOTTERY'S DOUBLE EAGLE PREYS ON PATRIOTS: POL

ALBANY - A leading critic of gambling criticized the state lottery yesterday for trying to capitalize on people's patriotism to sell tickets for the new $5 Double Eagle instant-ticket game....

HAMAS MOB PIPE-BOMBS ARAFAT COPS

JERUSALEM - Hamas supporters attacked a Palestinian police station in the Gaza Strip with rocks and pipe bombs yesterday as they demanded the execution of a suspected collaborator being held...

OLD POLICE CARS BIDDER-$WEET

Old NYPD cruisers were sure-fire sellers yesterday at the city's used-vehicle auction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. All 15 cruisers among the 218 cars for sale by the Department of...

CITY'S ANTI-TERROR TASK FORCE IS 'READY FOR ANYTHING' TODAY

Despite continued assurances that no credible or specific threat looms over the city's Fourth of July celebration, the entire Joint Terrorist Task Force will blanket the New York area, eyeballing...

ROG SHUTDOWN LIKELY UNTIL AFTER BREAK

YANKEE NOTES It sure sounds as if Roger Clemens is not going to pitch again until after the All-Star break. There was nothing official or committal from the Yankees last...

STARS IN STRIPES - BOMBER BATS BAIL OUT BOOMER VS. TRIBE

The cornerstone for the current Yankees dynasty is pitching, pitching and more pitching, but as this first-place juggernaut rolls on, it is becoming increasingly evident that this club leans more...

MIKES HR'S AN AMAZIN' WASTE

PHILADELPHIA - Mike Piazza can't do it all, but sometimes you get the feeling his team waits for him to. Piazza mashed three-run homers in the sixth and seventh innings,...

MCEWING STILL BAFFLED BY SLUMP

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Joe McEwing read the newspaper yesterday and saw the sickening stat: Since his last hit on May 25, he was 0-for-29 entering last night's game. Quizzed...

PIAZZA'S BAT HEATIN' UP

PHILADELPHIA - The $10.9M-a-year hoagie and steak delivery boy doesn't take tips. What a guy. Not only does he carry the Met offensively, but free lunch to the clubhouse. Vince...

ROCKET SHUTDOWN - YANKS MULL RESTING AILING ROG UNTIL AFTER BREAK

It sure sounds as if Roger Clemens is not going to pitch again until after the All-Star break. There was nothing official or committal from the Yankees last night, but...

ISLES BOLSTER TOUGH DEPT. WITH WIEMER

The Islanders yesterday traded defenseman Branislav Mezei to Florida for forward Jason Wiemer. The trade, which comes without the flash of a big-time free-agent signing, gives the Islanders another pair...

LIKE MONEY IN THE 'BANK'

TODAY'S 10-race July 4 holiday feast at Belmont Park serves up a pair of juicy stakes, the $150,000 Tom Fool at seven furlongs and the $250,000 New York at a...

TIME FOR COUNTRY TO GO FOURTH - HOLIDAY EVEN MORE MEANINGFUL THIS YEAR IN BRONX

BEING safe at home takes on a deeper meaning today. The Fourth of July has always been a special place around the Yankee kingdom, after all, birthday boy George Steinbrenner...

THOME HAS NO BEEF OVER ALL-STAR SNUB

Some players are real jerks. Then there's Jim Thome. The Cleveland slugger just may be the nicest guy in the game. Despite leading the AL in home runs with 25...

JAX MIFFED KNICKS NEVER CALLED HIM

Mark Jackson says he has "no ill feeling" toward the Knicks. But that doesn't mean he wasn't badly hurt when Knick management failed to call him on draft night to...

BLUESHIRTS AND RICHTER MEANT TO BE

The mating dance between Mike Richter and the Rangers continued yesterday, and though GM Glen Sather failed to pop the question - and has no intention of dropping to one...

THIS 4TH HAS SPECIAL MEANING - AFTER 9/11, NOTHING IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED

SAFE at home takes on a much deeper meaning today. The 4th of July has always been a special day around the Yankees. After all, George Steinbrenner is a real...

THOME STILL HOT AS FIRECRACKER

Some players are real jerks. Then there's Jim Thome. The Cleveland slugger may be the nicest guy in the game. He's definitely the hottest hitter. Thome homered in his seventh...

MCEWING GETS START AT SECOND

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Like most people, Joe McEwing read a newspaper yesterday. McEwing saw the oft-printed statistic that since his last hit on May 25, he was 0-for-29. Quizzed...

HEAT CAUSING PIAZZA BURNOUT?

PHILADELPHIA - The $11 million-a-year hoagie delivery boy doesn't take tips. A Philly guy knows where to go, a place where a superstar needs no introduction or entourage to handle...

METS BULLPEN MELTS IN HEAT

Phillies 8 - Mets 7 PHILADELPHIA - Mike Piazza can't do it all, but sometimes you get the feeling the Mets wait for him to. The All-Star catcher hit three-run...

TORRE TABS URBINA TO REPLACE PEDRO

YANKEE NOTES Smart move by Joe Torre. After Boston's Pedro Martinez decided not to go to Tuesday night's All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Torre opted to replace him with another member...

METS IMPROVE INS AND OUTS OF HITTING

PHILADELPHIA - You can boil down the reason for the Mets' struggles this season into one phrase: bad at-bats. Sure, the club was hitting a mediocre .249 entering last night's...